The Blosser family of Nappanee Indiana: The
Blosser Family connects with the Field Family through Hazel Blosser.
Hazel married Floyd Grasz 31 December 1931. Floyd’s first wife was
Tressa Ethel Wilson. Tressa died of breast cancer 11 March 1931. Hazel
was the daughter of Elias and Amanda Culp Blosser. Elias owned a shoe
store on E. Market Street in Nappanee. He actually made shoes in his
shop. He owned the store from 1893 to 1928. Hazel worked in the store
for many years. Floyd worked as a shoe cobbler for Elias. Later Floyd
opened his own shoe repair shop in the garage of his house on West
Market Street.

Hazel was one of four children. Her siblings were Merrill, Lowell, and
Blanch. Merrill was the creator of the long running cartoon strip Freckles and His Friends.
The cartoon was syndicated and ran in news papers all over the United
States. Merrill often made reference to places in Nappanee such as
Johnson's Drug Store. Lowell was a professional photographer. Blanch
married Harry Frick of Wawaka, Indiana. Harry owned a grain company in
Wawaka and the business is still owned by the Frick family. In the
summer of 2007, I visited Wawaka and talked to Dan Frick at the grain
company. At that time Merrill Frick, a son of Harry and Blanch was
still very active in the company. Dan told me that he had an aunt, Rosemary, living in Oregon.

There
is an interesting connection between the Field and the Blosser family.
Blanch Blosser Frick's oldest son, Harry Jr., married Emma H. Dye.
Emma's mother was Emma L. Hinkle. Emma Dye Frick and Eugene Allen Field
are 6th cousins once removed. They have a common ancestor in Johann
Gerhard Anthonius Henckel a son of Anthony Jacob Henckel the progenitor
of the Hinkle family in the United States.

Hazel
was born in 1889 in Nappanee. For a time after Floyd and Hazel were
married they lived with Hazel's parents. Floyd had used all of his
savings on medical expenses during Tressa's illness. At the time of
Tressa's illness the family was living in a large home at the corner of
W. Market and Nappanee Street. During the time they lived with the
Blossers the Grasz family home was rented out. Eventually they moved back into their
home. When they got older they sold the large home and divided the lot.
Floyd and Hazel built a smaller home on the back of the lot next to the
shoe shop. Floyd continued working in his shoe shop until he had a
stroke. The home and shop were eventually sold and Floyd and Hazel
moved to Greencroft Manner in Goshen, Indiana.

Hazel
was not my biological grandmother but she was my psychological
grandmother. She was always very kind to me. I loved her large home.
She always kept a clear glass candy jar full of spiced gum drops on a shelf
by the phone. The phone was mounted on the wall and you had to stand to
talk into it. You had to hold the receiver to your ear and talk into a
horn. Of course it was not a dial phone but controlled by an operator.
I remember standing on a chair and saying to the operator, "I want to
talk to my other grandma." The operator would then connect me to my
paternal grandmother, Marie Field, who lived a few blocks west on Market
Street.

Grandma Grasz, Hazel Blosser Grasz, seemed to be related to everyone in Nappanee. She was a member of
the Church of the Brethren. She was one of the first people born in Nappanee. Later in her life she was interviewed by a local librarian. She made the statement on the tape that at one point she knew every
single person living in every house in Nappanee. I asked my mother about this and she said the statement was correct, Grandma Hazel knew everyone.

Written by Eugene A. Field. This sketch of the Blosser family was written by memory. I was only four years old when we moved to California from Nappanee and really do not remember much about Merrill. I do remember going to visit him in La Verne, California at some point when he lived there.

The
photograph is Merrill and Hazel Blosser. They are children of Elias and
Amanda Culp of Nappanee, Indiana. Hazel became the second wife of Floyd
M. Grasz who was the father of Miriam Grasz Field.